Iran Focus
London, 28 Jul – The European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is in Tehran on Tuesday to open a new dialogue on “bilateral issues” a fortnight after the nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers. Yet her trip puts in peril Europe’s democratic values, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, former Spanish Vice-President of the European Parliament and current chair of the Brussels-based NGO, International Committee in Search of Justice, writes in the United Press International.
Iran Focus
London, 27 Jul – Iran’s main opposition coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has criticised the upcoming trip to Tehran of European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
Mogherini will travel to Tehran on Tuesday following the major power powers’ recent nuclear deal with Iran. It will be her first official visit to Tehran, where she is expected to meet Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif and other senior officials.
Iran Focus
London, 27 Jul – Iranians in Brussels protested over the weekend against the “European Union’s silence” on the abuse of human rights in Iran, the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat wrote on Sunday.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini plans to make her first official trip to Tehran on Tuesday. She will meet Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif and other senior officials.
London, 26 Jul – Western and Middle East insurance specialists see Iran as an appealing $8 billion (£5 billion) market in the wake of its nuclear deal with world powers, though uncertainty over when sanctions on Tehran will be lifted means they are treating the country with caution, Reuters reported.
Eight out of 11 insurance and reinsurance specialists who responded to questions emailed by Reuters this week said Iran was an attractive or very attractive market, especially in the marine and energy sectors. Responses were on an anonymous basis due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Iran Focus
Dubai, 26 Jul – Bahrain has decided to recall its ambassador to Iran in protest at “hostile” comments by Iranian leaders, the official BNA news agency reported on Saturday.
It said the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (SCIA) “strongly denounced the repeated blatant Iranian interference in Bahrain’s internal affairs in order to shake up the kingdom’s stability and fan tension”.
Amnesty International’s latest report on Iran states the regime executed 694 people between January 1 and July 15. This means the country averages at least three executions a day, Breitbart reported on Friday.
“Iran’s staggering execution toll for the first half of this year paints a sinister picture of the machinery of the state carrying out premeditated, judicially-sanctioned killings on a mass scale,” explained Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. “If Iran’s authorities maintain this horrifying execution rate we are likely to see more than 1,000 state-sanctioned deaths by the year’s end.”
Iran Focus
Berlin, 25 Jul – German’s domestic intelligence service has published a new report in which it says that Iran’s Intelligence Ministry is actively spying in Germany, targeting primarily supporters of its main opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), also known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), and the broader opposition coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
Iran Focus
Washington, 25 Jul – The US government and its Western allies should adopt a new policy on Iran, blocking its “pathways” to a nuclear bomb and its meddling in the Middle East and recognising the Iranian people’s “desire to topple the religious fascism in Iran and to establish democracy and a popular rule”, Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi told a Congressional briefing in the US House of Representatives on Friday.
A bi-partisan panel of Congressmen, former officials and foreign policy experts addressed the briefing entitled: “Halting Iran’s Nuclear Bomb Quest, Rights Abuses and Regional Meddling – Challenges & Options”. Rajavi addressed the conference via video message.
Iran Focus
London, 24 Jul – Top Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi has urged the people of Iran to show solidarity with Iranian teachers who braved a government clampdown earlier this week to rally outside the Iranian Parliament demanding the release of fellow teachers in detention.
Writing in the Christian Post on Thursday, Ambassador Ken Blackwell, a former Mayor of Cincinnati and a former US Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, called for a new US policy towards Iran:
